I'm doing a bit of research on 16th century soldiery, and in this context I'm intereseted in sources on the prices of arms and armour in the period.
So far I've found out that a mass produced "almain" cursais would cost about 1,5 florins, a high quality 3/4 armour 8-10.
During the ECW, breast+back plates and helmet for the New model army would cost 20 shilling. (1,6 pund)
What is more interesting, a Buff Coat would cost 30 shilling (An be a very cheap one at that. Prices exeeding 10 pounds(!) are reported for a high quality one)
Pistols are also roughly 1,5 florin/pund, carabines sligtly more expensive.
Swords are about half a florin/pound..."this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201

...Ruscelli, in his 1595 manual Precepts for a Modern Army, included an exacting discussion of the costs of artillery (the figures below are rounded to the nearest ducat).

To put thes costs in context, a single ducat would supply the daily wage for a common Venetian infantryman for about three months (about the same as an unskilled Labourer). Experienced soldeirs would receive a bit more. Helmet, breastplate and pke cost about three and a quarter ducats; an arquebus a little over one ducat.

I also have a compilation of different soldiers goods from some Trayn'd Bandes of London publications as well as some other sources for continental armies I'll dig up for you. They're at home, while I'm at work. " Hang fires are all fun and games untill someone gets their eye poked out... by charging calvary." - J.Shoemaker

Although this, too, is later than your interest (1622,) it's the best information I've found about the relative expense of arms and armour. That is, it shows us the cost in relation to more utilitarian items.

I'm theoizing about 1000.
A landsknecht was paid about 4 florins a month. If we asume that this was a very good vage, 1000$ or € could be a appropriate comparison.

This would (with the prices in Sean's example) place a sword at slightly above 400 $, a light suit of armour at about 1500$...
Interestingly, this about the same as today. :P"this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201

Scottish:
The Scottish coins are the same denominations as English coins. The Scottish
value is a lot lower due to severe debasement. The values start at about 1/3
to 1/5 face during the early reign of Elizabeth and fall to 1/12 by the end of her reign

This list was compiled from:

Mark L. Shanks, The Elizabethan 3R's "Money Maketh the World go Around ..."

William Harrison, The Description of England (New York: Dover, 1994)

Hope that helps some, I'll keep digging through some more of my resources after the weekend." Hang fires are all fun and games untill someone gets their eye poked out... by charging calvary." - J.Shoemaker

Thanks people.
I find this stuff highly interesting, as it casts some light on several classic assumptions about the cost of arms and armour.

Gordon; the complete list would in deed be interesting, som one could compare the costs of armour and other items."this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201

Could be that the boots and shoes are the only things that are mass produced, and not imported. I would have guessed the boots to be more expensive, though, as they are a large leather item.
Possibly they are quite low, rather than thigh length riding boots."this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201

The boots and shoes were produced locally, but the costs of tanning hides was fairly low, certainly as compared to weaving fabrics. Thus the similar cost between a shirt and a pair of boots. And since such things as shoes and boots were so thin and flimsy to equate more to modern moccasins, I would imagine that they were about as expendable as shirts were, too.

Woolens were certainly manufactured in England in large quantities, but the costs of clothing then as compared to the costs of clothing now is just so different as to stagger the imagination. It would be akin to us having to wear Versacci suits with fine linen shirts from Italy, rather than blue jeans and T-shirts made in China.

Another thing of interest is the absolutely outrageous inflation that went on during the 16th Century, leading to the debasement of currency and the misery of the populace. A carpenter of 1600 was making roughly half (IIRC) of what his Great-Grandfather had made a century before.

At least this one estimates that a 1600's skilled laborer earned around 15 pounds per year, and equates that to about 30 florins (wages similar 2 to 3 florins per month.) At least earlier than this period, military pay actually was considerably above average, even for some cases of militia compensation. You might try to correlate that 4 florins with something like 6 weeks pay for a typical construction worker, weaver, etc.

Also, there was a tricky inflation surge during the 1400's. It could be a problem if you try to use costs or incomes from early 1400 as a basis for comparison.Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!

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